The Swarm Is No More

Carl spent an entire night devouring over a dozen homeless people, feeling his power grow continuously, becoming so strong that even Spider-Man during the day couldn't match him. So, he decided to enact his plan: first, he would eat Peter Parker's friends at school, then disguise himself as them to get close to Parker.

Who would have thought the first target would be a failure? By God, Parker seemed to have known his intentions all along. The moment Gwen stepped out of the subway station, he whisked her away. Not only that, but the meticulously crafted, flawless human skin shell was like a Halloween mask to Parker, shattered with a single punch.

That was bad enough, but who could have imagined that today, Parker emanated a scent that was incredibly alluring? Sweet, yet bloody and hot, like rotten honey mixed with fresh blood, it drove his spider swarm completely out of control. Not only the ones lurking within him, but even the spiders hidden in the sewers and wall cracks, all surged out like madmen, converging into a black torrent, then solidifying into a humanoid monster over three meters tall, swinging webs just like Spider-Man.

"I'm faster than you!"

Carl King laughed wildly in the wind. He caught up to Spider-Man with speed exceeding his own, stuck him to his back with webbing, yanked him forward, and then raised his fist, punching Spider-Man squarely in the head. The immense force sent Spider-Man flying.

"I'm stronger than you!"

Carl didn't let up after Spider-Man was sent flying. He rapidly descended, landing on him, and threw a barrage of punches until he smashed him into the ground. Cars on the street blared their alarms, pedestrians screamed and scattered, and countless spiders formed simple features on the giant humanoid face.

"I'm smarter than you! I have the Chameleon's intellect! I know the Punisher is waiting for me in a trap! But you don't have this chance!"

He watched as Spider-Man's eyepieces narrowed.

"I thought you were just on a little steroids, Carl, I didn't expect you to be on performance-enhancing drugs too."

"I'll rip that mouth of yours off, Pa— AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The web-shooters discharged electricity at the opportune moment, giving the spider swarm a jolt. But the pain only lasted for an instant. The remaining swarm devoured the corpses of their own kind, generating new spiders. More importantly, a considerable number of spiders had already appeared on Spider-Man.

It was like a feast laid out before him.

But at this very moment, something flew over. It was a small bottle thrown by Spider-Man. The liquid splashed out, sticking to the spider swarm. Instantly, the spiders that had climbed onto Spider-Man began to flee, uncontrollable by Carl King. He could even feel his own spider swarm gnawing at him.

"And you actually think the Chameleon is smart? Carl, I honestly can't imagine how bad your math homework must be. No wonder I never saw you in class."

Spider-Man, performing a backflip onto a utility pole, began checking his web-shooters. Simultaneously, a rocket-propelled grenade whizzed by, directly hitting the chaotic spider swarm. The violent explosion almost destroyed the swarm. The Punisher appeared, stopped his motorcycle, and threw several incendiary bombs at the burning swarm.

"Seriously? A rocket launcher in Manhattan?"

"Simple and effective. Stuff you don't see much even in Hell's Kitchen."

The Punisher, as he spoke, watched the flames and tossed one incendiary bomb after another until his supply was depleted. Spider-Man, meanwhile, sealed all the surrounding sewer manhole covers with webbing. Both waited for the flames to die down completely, or for the spider swarm to emerge.

"You know, if this doesn't take care of him, you'll have to..."

"Yes, I know."

Under their watchful eyes, a massive sphere rolled out. The outside of the entire sphere was covered in charred spiders. Seeing this, the Punisher immediately left to prepare his second plan, while Spider-Man sighed and sprayed himself with a third vial of pheromones. This stuff was effective, but it didn't last long.

Cracking open from the giant charred shell, the dried-out spider swarm could only condense into a pathetic little thing about a meter and a half tall. But its explosiveness remained unchanged. Peter shot webbing at it. This time, the swarm automatically separated, turning into countless individual spiders to avoid being wiped out by a single blast of high voltage. Seeing this, Peter immediately shot webbing to another side, sticking to a fire hydrant. Immediately, a pouncing spider bit through the webbing.

At this moment, Carl King understood one thing: this was a hunt by Spider-Man. To deal with Spider-Man, he only needed to do one thing: whatever it took, don't let Spider-Man do what he wanted. His spider swarm crawled all over Spider-Man, directly biting through the old web-shooters before solidifying into a face and roaring.

"Parker, you're dead today—"

"You look like you need some help, little spider!"

A football landed squarely on Carl King's newly formed head. He glared furiously, and together with Spider-Man, saw Eugene Thompson, who had arrived at some unknown time. Seeing Thompson, Peter couldn't help but mutter, "Damn it."

"I have backup, you run!"

"But you really look like you need help!"

Peter, standing up, began swatting at the spiders on him. But Thompson didn't run; he even looked like he genuinely intended to help him swat spiders. Peter, thinking fast, shouted, "Thompson, is that you?!"

"Yes! Oh my god, you remember me!"

It would be good enough if you didn't make things worse!

"Can you drive?"

Watching the new suit on his body being torn apart by the spider swarm, Peter knew the reinforced composite fibers wouldn't hold for much longer. Yes, they had a backup plan, but the backup plan wasn't foolproof enough to guarantee Carl's complete defeat.

So, he really did need a little help.

Thompson felt genuinely happy because he could indeed drive.

"Okay, find a car, ram the fire hydrant, and get out of here quickly!"

Peter said, crushing the spiders on his body. Thompson found the nearest car. Luckily, the owner hadn't taken the keys when fleeing and hadn't even turned off the engine. Thompson got in, wrenched the steering wheel, and floored the accelerator, smashing directly into the fire hydrant. The hydrant collapsed, and a geyser of water shot skyward.

Thank you, New York City government; there was indeed water in the fire hydrant.

Attracted by the pheromones, Carl King couldn't deal with Thompson, who had already retreated to a safe distance to watch. But that didn't stop him from mocking Peter Parker: "Water? You think that can drown me?"

"I never thought that, Carl. But even elementary school kids know one thing: water conducts electricity."

The severed high-voltage cable fell around them. A massive current instantly coursed through the spider swarm and Spider-Man. Spider-Man stood up within the current, grabbing the high-voltage cable: "You might be faster and stronger than me by eating people, Carl, but I'm more durable than you."

"It's time to say goodbye, Carl."

"No! No!"

Feeling his life draining away, the spider swarm, dying in the current, managed to coalesce into a face and made a final plea to the enemy before them.

"You're a hero, Parker, you're Spider-Man! You can't kill me, you can't kill people! I won't attack you, I'll turn myself in. The Avengers must have a prison to hold me, Parker!"

As Carl King felt his life force dwindling, he also experienced an ineffable silence. The high-voltage current passed through both their bodies, equally draining both their lives, until finally, the face could no longer hold its form and collapsed.

Spider-Man threw the cable into the accumulated water and then walked out, enduring the current. He glanced at Thompson in the distance. At that distance, an ordinary person couldn't have heard his final conversation with Carl King.

"You didn't do anything wrong, kid."

"I feel... like I don't feel anything. No sense of having killed someone," Peter asked the Punisher, "Is that right?"

"That only proves what you killed wasn't human, kid. You took down a monster, and you did the right thing."

The Punisher clapped him on the shoulder. "Change your clothes, then tell your friends it's all over. You smell like a barbecue."

***

This was half an hour later.

A group of unidentified NYPD officers had cordoned off the entire street. They removed the high-voltage cables and collected all the mutated spider corpses. The man in charge responded to instructions from the other end of his phone.

"Yes, destroy them all? No, no problem. Not a single spider will remain."

In an unnoticed corner, the corpse of a large spider exploded. The last surviving small spider quietly moved towards a distant drain, but a boot stepped on it, then gently lifted.

The person in charge, who noticed the foot, looked over and asked the "special consultant" who had come to handle the case.

"Is something wrong, Agent Web?"

"No." The Asian girl, who looked about high school age, looked at the spider corpse on the ground and answered concisely.

"All threats have been eliminated."